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38 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Bullies lead by fear.Bullies do not respect women and view them as objects.Bullies have little to no relational intelligence.Bully leadership is not sustainable.Bullies get no loyalty from their staff.Staff morale is low, the staff will never go the extra mile for this type of leader.The leader loses his respect.A bully is vicious and vindictive in private and charming in front of witnesses. Only the current target sees both sides. (Jekyll and Hyde)Does this sound like YOUR principal.This is going on each and every day in our schools. Dont be too quick to place blame on the teachers.

A principals (or superintendents) job is to create the right internal climate for the organization. Poor leadership leads to poor performance throughout the descendant structure. Subordinates don't just suddenly take it upon themselves to behave badly. They take their guidance from the management levels above them.

Absolutely yes, the are bully principals in the PPS. You won't get a teacher to put out a name or school just yet. There's still too much time left in the year for further retaliation. Wait until June 15th.

Questioner, you asked for specific names of principals who are bullies. Just look at the list of principals who were recently promoted.

I was bullied for over 3 years by the principal at Carrick who has recently been promoted to head the teacher evaluations program 'RISE.' She gets a cushy office in Oakland, and I was pushed out. She, Judy Johnson, her VP's, and her PELA mentees made me so miserable that I was elated to resign. It meant that I did not have to see her or her lousy minions any more. It did not bother me that I would be unemployed and without healthcare benefits. I was free of the pain and misery I endured there. Like a bear caught in a trap, I chewed my paw off to break free.

She created an environment of fear and lack of trust. Several times she and her VPs stood by and listen to Judy Johnson verbally lacerate me right before I had to teach a class. The students never knew it, but believe me, it was extremely difficult for me to be at my best.

They (her and the crew) made me second guess myself all the time. Whenever I saw any one of them walking down the hall to my classroom I'd cringe and tighten up. I'd go home sick every day.

For the sake of the students and my health, I resigned. I knew that I was unable to provide the quality education my students needed in this hostile environment I was placed in for no apparent reason than that I spoke up.

Please believe that the bullying did not stop at the building level. I did mention Judy Johnson who was a consultant brought in to work with the building administrators. I would like to honorably mention the district's head of my department. Since he feared for his position, he was complicit in the bullying of teachers as well. Whether he bought into the employed pedagogy or not, he bared witness to the treatment of his colleagues and never spoke up.

No one deserves to be treated the way I was or the many other teachers who have been targeted. The leadership at the board down is comprised of bullies.

Teachers will not report a bullying principal because they know nothing will happen. Dr. Lane is well aware of which administrators are bullies. These principals are just reassigned. Eventually, it will come back to haunt them. Principals can't run a school by themselves, but they sure can destroy one. Don't blame teachers. Its time to take a look at the administration in these schools. For example, our VP runs the other way when there's trouble, his reward??? He will be a VP on special assignment when the school closes. The principal rarely comes out of his office. He refuses to answer emails or return phone calls. He's a bully AND a coward. He targets women and weak men.

Anon 11:14's post rings true. It is not a unique story in this district.

Part of the problem is that the Roosevelt/Lane administration REQUIRES bullying.

Let me explain. I have no problem with the district firing an incompetent teacher. But that's NOT what's happening here. Principals are being pressured to focus and fire. They are being encouraged to push teachers out the door.

So what does a principal do if all the teachers in his/her building are performing?

There are two possibilities.

The principal can do the right thing, and simply not focus anyone. If that happens, the principal will be warned; if you want to keep your job, focus someone!

Second possibility: The principal can target a teacher who is for whatever reason vulnerable. Notice that I did not say incompetent, I said vulnerable.

Maybe the targeted teacher has challenging classes, filled with disruptive students. Maybe that teacher is unpopular with the union leadership. Maybe that teacher has health problems.

Whatever. Pick a vulnerable teacher. Send in waves of observers and know-it-all consultants. Make the teacher's life so miserable that resignation becomes an option.

It is so disheartening to watch good principals (yes, there are still a few of them out there) bullied themselves into putting teachers on improvement plans, issuing unsats, and ultimately telling long time teachers that they no longer "make the grade." Improvement plans aren't just for teachers, as principals are threatened with them as well. God forbid you aren't a PELA or on the list of golden "prom goers" running the District. Something needs to give, sooner rather than later.

You know what's almost worse than the day to day bullying? The passive aggressive behavior that comes the next day after your principal reads a post on this blog. Obviously it has struck a little too close to home. He doesn't miss an opportunity to work a comment or use a phrase from this blog into his conversation. Can June 15th come fast enough?????

I recently retired from teaching after 26 years. I stumbled onto this blog looking for information on principals who bully teachers because I plan to blog on the same subject about the school and district where I taught. Administrative bullying from the top down seems to be the norm. I was bullied by a principal for five years who also started rumors about me that ended up having a life of their own. Her boss and personnel were well aware of what she was doing to me and what she had done to other teachers and she was never stopped. I think it is past time to set the record straight on this mistreatment of teachers by principals. Teachers have been scapegoated enough as the reason for the failure of schools. A focus needs to be on principals, the parents of some of these failing kids, and some of the kids themselves. In my opinion, teachers are the only ones really trying to do their jobs in many situations.

My principal tried to bully me. He made up a bunch of lies to cover up his incompetence and the. Tried to blame me! I made sure that all of the right people heard the truth, Dr Lane, Dr Otuowa, HR, the union, and every teacher in the building or system that I know. I have an attorney waiting on the sidelines just in case he even tries to retaliate. He has a history of going after weak and vulnerable people. This time, he picked on the wrong person. I also made sure that every Board member is aware of what went down. Stand up to your bully principal, he's nothing but a coward.

Remember, it's all about damage control. the last thing Bellefield wants is for this to go public. I have spent month documenting everything. I have a binder filled with evidence. Don you think they want me to call the Post Gazette or WPXI? hell no! Instead they will move Mr. Bully Principal to another school in the fall. Hopefully he will have learned something from this experience. They say that the adult bully also has tendencies towards domestic violence, child abuse, anger management issues, and harassment . The folks at Bellefield and HR should do better background checks. It is my understanding that Mr. bully Principal has a long history of this.

Anonymous may 28th. How long did your bullying go on? I am very happy that you are able to do something. In my case, this person has pushed out so many people. Wants to get rid of me. This person has a history too. I am documenting and seeing what can be done.

What's really sad is that I too am an administrator and I have had another principal bully me and my child. He used his power to intimidate, harass, and create issues for our family. He couldn't leave it at that. He hadscontinued to undermine me, my wife, and our child this year. I agree with a previous comment, I too gave up a high salary and health benefits to get out of this situation, it was better to be unemployed thn continue in the situation. Fortunately another district saw through his behavior and hired me.. But I feel for those left behind. For the 250 kids in his school. For the teachers he yes he is going to target next year. The superintendent is oblivious. He's such a silver tongued devil that he is able to convince the boss that everyone else is in the wrong. He spends a considerable amount of time behind the scenes sowing discontent. In addition there re two teachers that are similar to him and he protects them at all costs.

I wish you both luck. We are moving 270 miles away just to get out of his reach. We did have some luck today the board saw through some of the behavior after enough staff complained the supt was forced to change a couple of things. Of course he blamed the staff tht complained, but they saw through it and could claim a small victory. 10 more days of school and off to new adventures.

It sad when good teachers are driven from the profession or are so bullied that it makes it hard to do your jobs. I wish you the best and hope that something positive comes out of this for you and your families. We (administrators) are not all heartless jerks, but unfortunately like a lot of things the mean nasty people get into positions of power and the good people suffer. I applaud you for staying with it, I know you are probably doing it for the kids as well as financiallly to take care of yourself and any family you have. Stand strong and stand together.

Response: yes, I was able to press charges. He was given a chance to rectify the situation. I can't go into it here. But I ended up being quite satisfied. He only got a scolding and a new assignment. That's ok, he had to go before lane and explain. Anything that may occur now, would be labeled retaliation. He won't chance it.

I am the author of When Teachers Talk. My name is Rosalyn Schnall. I would like to address this comment to the anonymous principal who found himself in such a difficult position that he opted to quit and find a position elsewhere,rather than put up with the situation.I am glad to hear that you found another position in a more favorable environment. You are obviously an exemplary and caring person and principal. Initially, when I conducted the research for When Teachers Talk, it was not intended for publication. I undertook it purely as a research project. However, as it turned out, over 87% of the schools were represented by the teachers collective work histories, so it was highly indicative of how prevalent the problem was in the school system. Because it was an anonymous study and the teachers spoke freely, what they had to say became even more relevant. Their stories were shocking even to me, a veteran teacher and many, many teachers also urged me to bring their anonymous stories forth. So, I decided to do so and put them in book form. It was an attempt to raise public awareness about this hidden but insidious problem that was found in so many schools. That way, change might be brought about. This book serves both as a tribute to out best and brightest principals and a scathing expose of those who should not be in these positions. Because it was a random study, and because there were a preponderance of 'bad stories' vs 'good ones' it was a revealing book. I hoped it was evident that it was NOT a book written against principals or written to blame principals for every and all problems in public education! There are many problems. However, what the teachers revealed clearly reflected that there were many, many bad administrators present in the schools. It is such a shame,when either a good principal or good teacher becomes so disgusted that he or she quits the profession. I will always offer praise and support to a good administrator. The job of a principal is a stressful one that comes with many pressures. I was fortunate to have taught under both types. When I taught under a wonderful, dedicated and supportive principal, my teaching was enhanced as was the learning of students in my class. However, the opposite was still true. As hundreds of randomly selected teachers attested, "Good principals are rare and very hard to find." Thus, there was a reason only a short section in the book was dedicated to 'Good Principals.' It was not due to bias. It was because there were just not that many 'good principal stories' told to me by the interviewed teachers, and they were proportionately represented. It is a sad truth, but according to hundreds of teachers, there are too many people in this job who are doing more harm than they are good. Hopefully, if parents are made aware of this, they can help to correct these problematic situations in their schools when they are found to exist. When Teachers Talk will hopefully be a vehicle to inform parents of the problem they have never before been aware of which is detrimental to the education of their children, but with this new awareness, can be solved and the education in our public schools will improve. I know that you are aware of much of what these teachers were anonymously addressing.

I wish you continued good luck in your position as administrator in your new school. It sounds like your student body and faculty and community will be fortunate to have you for their principal. Congratulations. Rosalyn Schnall

principal shoved my grandson in his ofc.; denied it. my grandson cannot go back to school till meeting with superintendent today. told police. they put it on file but, there were no witnesses as it was n principal's ofc.

I'm a parent at a school with a new principal. I believe the staff and teachers are being bullied. I am part of the PTG at the school and I know she has gone to the super to request to 'get rid of that parent group. She has banned any un-approved questions from being asked. now there is an incident in the school where she has pushed a teacher that was standing up to her. Administration seems to be trying to bury the incident. We the parents are not going to allow that to happen. We're working on a template letter for parents to use and plan to drop them off in mass to the board office. Any other advice on how we help our teachers. They are obviously under a gag order and can't tell us what we can do to help them. Would appreciate any advice. We have a strong parent group at our school and a strong community support. But we want to help not hurt the teachers and staff.

I read this through my tears. It has been a year since I was hospitalized for the stress that resulted from being bullied by my principal and her sycophants. Following a leave of absence for the rest of last year, I intended to return to school in September but was refused unless I had Doctor approval. My Doctor and Psychiatrists would not approve. Unemployment insurance has been denied. Tomorrow will be a trip to the welfare office. Tricky getting a job without current reference. No one wants to pay for my experience. Will be starting over again after 20 years of teaching. No regrets about always giving the children my best.

I was bullied too. It got to the point where the teachers were getting invlvolved. I felt like i didn't even want to go to school. I could give you the entire story, but in all honesty it would take up pages and pages of space. You need to tell your parents; it's the only thing you can really do. If they don't believe you, you just keep bugging them about it. And to the person above, teachers are the blame just as well as the principle. They choose to go along with it even when they don't have to. I feel you're pain and I hope it gets better for you.

This makes me beyond upset because I know what it feels like, to be mentally abused by s principle. They abuse their power. I was bullied for two years by my priniple. The person used their staff to make me feel like I was always being watched and I was a bad kid, when all the teachers knew me since kindergarten and knew I would never do anything wrong. It made me feel terrible especially when I was suddenly being treated badly by the adults I grew up around. It's a terrible feeling and I hope it gets better for you. At this point you need to inform your parents about it and have them take action.

I was bullied as a STUDENT for 2 years at my old school. This was a pps principle ironically. She got the teachers involved and they would accuse me of things I didn't do. I was suspended twice wrongly. The teachers knew me since I was in kindergarten, yet they still continued to treat me like garbage because the priniple made them. She will never be fired because she and Dr. Lane are so close it isn't even funny. They don't just bully their teachers, they bully their own students as well. Trust me, I'm a victim.

A bully can be any person in any situation. It definitely makes me wonder how this person got into a position of power, especially among children. There are bullies in all walks of life, in every career path.Watch your backs, folks.